Bowe Bergdahl: Army of Wha’?!

Posted on Jun 5, 2014

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is coming back to the States after being held by the Taliban as a prisoner of war for five years. Though seemingly good news, the story has turned into a new controversy for Republicans to drone on and on about. In his latest animation, "Bowe Bergdahl: Army of Wha’?!" Mark Fiore points out that, given GOP hysteria over Bergdahl's return, we might as well change the military slogan from "Support Our Troops" to "Support Nearly All of Our Troops." Read about Fiore's inspiration for the animation and watch below.

Whoever thought bringing home a prisoner of war would be so controversial? I never thought there was so much wiggle room in the old “leave no man behind” adage. The two main issues that complicate this POW return are that Bowe Bergdahl may have walked off on his own and the fact that Republicans in Congress are trying desperately to make a failure out of Obama, no matter the issue. If Benghazi was getting a little played out, this Taliban prisoner swap will keep the investigation/hearings/conspiracy-mill going for a long time to come.
Even if Bergdahl was a deserter, doesn’t he at least deserve a court martial carried out by his own countrymen? Is our new policy under the Republican House leadership to turn over all deserters to the enemy? Let’s at least give the guy time to learn to speak English again and get some of the intestinal bugs out of his system before we hang him high. I don’t remember this level of vitriol when cold-blooded killers who undermined the war effort got off with hardly a slap on the wrist.
And though I tend to sympathize with Bergdahl and see much of this as a political stunt by politicians, it does seem like Obama is once again displaying his, ahem, masterful negotiating skills by trading five high-level Taliban guys for Bergdahl. Now get ready for the endless hearings and investigations— and maybe we’ll figure out a new policy to determine just what sort of men we leave behind. Enjoy the cartoon, and be sure to check out links to additional stories behind the cartoon.